I have purchased a number of ‘deals’ through Groupon and I have enjoyed each and every one. I scan Groupon daily in order to see what the offers are, both locally, and across the Country. Recently I bought a deal that was advertised for Mother’s day from Need A Cake. The deal was 12 cupcakes for £6.50 instead of £26.00 – this was a great deal, I thought, and one that was advertised throughout the Country, thousands of people had purchased this deal. However, it was through purchasing this Groupon deal that my concerns for this global online force, started to grow. Let me explain…
I wanted to order these cupcakes for delivery on Mother’s Day but when I tried to activate my Groupon voucher for my order the website told me that the their was a website malfunction. I called the company behind this deal, Need A Cake, who explained to me that so many people were trying to order that their website was having problems and it will be sorted soon.
A day later the same issue arose, however, this time when I tried to call the company it just rung off the hook. At times I rung and there was no answer, at other times I rung and it was engaged, clearly other people were trying to get through also. I then went over to the companies Facebook page were there were a number of requests for anyone to come and help them prepare these cakes for Mothers Day delivery. Basically, there were so many orders that they could not cope with the demand. I had also noted, on their Facebook page, that a number of people had commented that they had tried to contact the company with regards to not being able to get their deal and then, these comments were deleted. I then found a mobile number for the company on the Facebook page and gave them a ring.
The lady that I spoke to was the same lady I had spoken to a few days before, she was clearly in the shop and in the background I could hear the ‘phone ringing off the hook, no one was answering it. I had asked why the website was not taking orders and, at first, she explained that the website was fine and there was no issue. I was then told that too many people were using the site and then I was told that Groupon controlled the site and so I would have to speak to them. Of course Groupon didn’t run their own website. Need A Cake were literally overloaded with people wanting their cupcakes, they could not handle the response. It is my assumption, and therefore, it is not fact, that the company actually stopped their website from taking orders so that they could try and manage the orders that they had got. In terms of their customer service they categorically blamed Groupon.
I then noticed a deal on the Groupon site for a local restaurant. This is a lovely little Greek restaurant that has an excellent reputation in the local area. The deal was a 3 course meal, for two, for £15.60 instead of the usual £39. However, when I read the terms and conditions of the deal I was quite astounded.
When the deal closed 1481 meals had been purchased. The description of the deal explains that there are 37 tables in the restaurant. The terms also explain that the deal EXPIRES on the 30th May 2011, it excludes bank holidays and Mother’s Day. I also talked to the owner on the ‘phone and he added that Saturday’s were also excluded because he has to find tables for his regulars.
Excluding bank holidays, Saturday’s and Mother’s day there are a total of 46 days from the 1st April until the 30th May for a total of 2962 diners to eat their 3 course meal using their voucher (excluding regular customers). There are a few obvious problems here:
1) Over the period of 46 days a full sitting of 37 seats have to be used, every single day, in order to ensure that everyone who purchased the deal can have their meal. Please note that this does not include regulars to the restaurant and it assumes that everyone who has purchased the deal has availability in the diary.
2) With Groupon the merchant gets 50% of the sales value. The retail price of the 3 course meal is £39 and the Groupon deal is £15.60 so the restaurant will be getting £3.90 per person for a 3 course meal. My assumption is that they will be barely making a profit on this, if any whatsoever.
Going back to the conversation that I had with the owner of the restaurant he explained that he had asked Groupon to limit the deal so that only 500 purchases could be made, but Groupon wanted to increase the profit as much as possible.
The premise of Groupon is that it is raising the profile of small local business and therefore increasing their revenue through future repeat orders. My suggestion is that, although this is Groupon marketing spin, the actual reality, for a good number of small businesses is that Groupon is making these businesses suffer by operating at a serious loss for the period that the deal is live and is destroying the reputation of these businesses in both the eyes of regular customers and those who hear about the deal through Groupon. Finally, it is undoubtedly causing stress for businesses owners, such as the case of We Need A Cake, who simply cannot cope.
I would love to hear your thoughts on Groupon, whether you are a customer or a merchant?
I first met The PeteBox in 2004 when we both won a Channel4 4Talent award. Pete rocked then and, he rocks now. Only a matter of a few days ago did PeteBox upload a video of his beatboxing talents with his version of The Pixies, ‘Where is my mind?’ During those small few days this video has gained nearly 200,000 views. This guy is awesome. Check him out, if you run an event, book him! Simple.
You may remember me previously posting about the ‘Bears don’t wear wetsuits ‘ guy. This dude put a very funny, creative auction on ebay which was forwarded to the far flung corners of the internet. The auction amassed over 600,000 views and heaps of companies offering to chuck in freebies to support the charitable cause the dosh was going to.
Well, sad news, the winning bidder didn’t cough up the cash and neither did the second highest bigger and so ‘The Massive Fuckin* raffle‘ has been launched. The contents of the first auction, plus a night out with the guy who wrote the blog and his bear is up for raffle. The tickets are £2.50 and the raffle closes at 8pm on the 30th April. So, buy now for your chance to win!
I love playing around with ideas, they may not be for the purpose of generating finances, they may simply be, ‘because I can’.
I had mentally been playing around with the idea of Royal Wedding Wishes, a website that enables the public, from around the world, to upload their Royal Wedding Wish. A royal wedding guestbook for a digital generation, if you will.
So, I had a conversation with a mate, we pulled together some code and the idea and we made it happen and launched www.royalweddingwishes.com last night. So far we have wishes from UK, Ireland, Wales, Bahrain, India and Australia – but hoping for me.
Feel free to upload your Royal Wedding Wishes.
Did you hear the one about the guy who sold a second hand wetsuit on ebay by using a picture of a bear at a urinal and a creative advert? You may well have done, because over 600,000 people viewed the auction advert which ended last night.
The whole thing started 10 days ago when an auction was uploaded to ebay in a witty, creative way. This will not have been the first time in the history of ebay that such an advert was written. Nevertheless, it was this one that went viral and suddenly 90% of the final bid was promised to be given to towards the Japanese earthquake and tsunami victims.
All of a sudden companies started to donate other items to the winning bidder including (but certainly not limited to): A brand new wetsuit, a towel wrap, a watch, clock, DVD, change bag, books, photography sessions, surfboard and heaps heaps more. The final auction bid reached an awesome: £8,999
The day before the auction ended the owner of the auction set up a website entitled: Bears Dont Wear Wetsuits to answer people’s questions after the auction has ended. I am certainly hoping that, not only do we get to hear more about this guy, but that he gets some exciting, creative job offers himself.
Here is the full ebay advert text, for your pleasure:
I bought this wetsuit brand-new last year and have worn it a fair bit. When I say ‘fair’ I reckon about 20 times, but then probably more like 30. A fair few times anyway.
HOWEVER you will like this, If it was not being worn, it was hung on a hangar or rolled to prevent creasing AND I rinsed it in fresh water after EVERY session so it’s in VERY good condition as I look after my gear, I always do, similarly I take care of my body and shower at least once a day and always moisturise. Yes you’re probably getting a feel for the kind of man I am. You can see from the pictures it has no creases and looks lovely. My friend Gaz has got a wetsuit that he doesn’t look after and it looks like an Elephant’s arse, all wrinkled, a bit like an old man’s testicle.
You’re probably thinking “People p*ss in wetsuits, I’m not sure about a second hand wetsuit”, but believe it or not I have NEVER urinated in this suit, seriously, these suits are too good to be doing such a vulgar act in, the wee just ends up staying in the suit and then when you’re sat having a post-surf pint in the pub you smell awful and girls don’t like boys that smell of p*ss so you just sit there, alone all night, sobbing into your pint of Betty Stoggs like a lonely desperate p*ss smelling man.
I’ve included a picture of a bear using a urinal, this is how I normally use the toilet, notice that the animal is not wearing a wetsuit. Although I am not a bear, I, like a bear, do not p*ss in wetsuits.
It’s a size medium or “m”, it was the top of the range suit when I bought it, I think I paid around £300 for it, still a great warm suit that will make you surf at least 200% better. It won’t really but it will keep you warm and it’s flexible so you’ll be able to throw your arms around like Beyonce whilst you’re bouncing along a wave. People will look at you and say “f*ckin hell check that dude out, he knows what he’s doing wearing one of those Xcel suits and he’s got some fresh dance moves”. They probably won’t say this.
Now as it’s been worn, there’s some signs of wear around the neck, which I’ve taken pictures of, so you don’t say “oi you c*nt, there’s area of wear around the neck I’m giving you bad feedback”. The pictures make it look worse than it is (because they’re close-ups), and I’ve taken the pictures with the suit turned inside out, when it’s the right way round you don’t see the wear and it has no effect on the performance of the suit. That was a bit boring wasn’t it, but it had to be done so you can’t take me to eBay court for not being honest with you.
Why am I selling it? Well I’ve just bought a new one, as I’m a flash tw*t like that, I tend to get a new suit every season, I just like the feel of fresh neoprene on my soft skin, and well to be honest I could do with some cash to pay for prostitutes. No, that was a joke, now you’re going to think the suit is riddled with disease but it’s not as I was joking I do NOT engage with ladies of the night.
I’ll post it out the next working day following cleared payment, or if you’re around the Truro area you can come and collect it thus avoiding postage charges. Having said that, if you’re a maniac, maybe you should just let me post it to you as I don’t want to be murdered to death, especially as the summer is just beginning! WOO HOO.
Any questions just ask, I’ll answer them very quickly as I’m sat at a computer all f*cking day, unless there’s waves.
Thanks for looking and reading all of that ridiculous text, I hope you have a wonderful day.